Category: NRHA

NRHA Webinar: Turning IT Challenges into Opportunity: How Freestone Medical Center Saved $500K and Expanded Care, September 30

September 9, 2025

NRHA Webinar: Turning IT Challenges into Opportunity: How Freestone Medical Center Saved $500K and Expanded Care, September 30

Many rural hospitals recognize that their IT systems need an upgrade, but they lack the time, staff, or budget to undertake a comprehensive overhaul. This session shares how one rural facility took a phased, strategic approach to modernization, resulting in improved cybersecurity, reduced downtime, and over $500,000 reinvested into expanded care delivery.

You’ll hear from Brian Doerr, a rural IT expert who has helped hospitals in more than 40 states navigate telecom funding, privacy planning, and infrastructure strategy. A frequent speaker at AHA’s Rural Healthcare Leadership Conferences, Brian brings practical, tested advice for rural leaders who need solutions, not more systems.

Participants will:

  • Learn how a phased approach to IT upgrades can minimize disruption and avoid common pitfalls,
  • Understand how to identify and prioritize improvement s that align with rural staffing and budget realities, and
  • See how tracking metrics like downtime, efficiency, and savings can support future planning and reporting.

If you’re responsible for IT decisions and stretched thin on resources, this session offers real-world strategies you can apply now, without adding complexity.

Cost: Free

When: Tuesday, September 30, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

NRHA Webinar: How Air Medical Transport Saves Lives After Traumatic Brain Injury – and What Rural Hospitals Risk Losing, September 11

September 9, 2025

NRHA Webinar: How Air Medical Transport Saves Lives After Traumatic Brain Injury – and What Rural Hospitals Risk Losing, September 11

In rural America, time and distance can be deadly – especially after a traumatic brain injury. This session explores the critical role of air medical services in bridging rural trauma care gaps and improving survival outcomes for patients with brain injuries.

Join Stephanie Queen, RN, a senior clinical leader with more than 20 years in healthcare operations and clinical care, Peggy Reisher, MSW, a 30-year brain injury advocate and executive director of the Brain Injury Association of  Nebraska, and Tim Chiarolanza, a brain injury survivor whose life was saved by sir medical transport. Together, they’ll share compelling data, personal insights, and urgent policy concerns affecting air ambulance access.

Attendees will:

  • Understand the unique causes and long-term impacts of brain injury in rural communities,
  • Learn how air ambulances deliver ICU-level care en route and improve TBI survival rates, and
  • Hear how current Medicare reimbursement gaps threaten access to these life-saving services.

This is more than a discussion – it’s a call to protect care access for rural Americans.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, September 11, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

Elevating Materials Management for Rural Health Care Impact

August 27, 2025

Elevating Materials Management for Rural Health Care Impact

Materials management is often seen as a purely operational responsibility – tracking supplies, negotiating with vendors, and maintaining inventory. In rural hospitals, however, those day-to-day decisions have deep financial and clinical implications. With tighter budgets, every supply chain choice directly affects patient care and overall hospital performance.

Visibility across materials, finance, and clinical operations is essential. Without it, rural facilities risk redundant depreciation, missed billing for chargeable supplies, or critical product shortages that disrupt care delivery.

Why it Matters:

Each supply chain decision resonates in multiple areas:

  • Untracked assets may distort financial statements and budget forecasting,
  • Delayed orders not only disrupt patient workflows – they may hit clinical billing and revenue, and
  • Overlooked chargeable items lead to lost reimbursement opportunities.

In rural settings where cost-containment is paramount, these ripple effects aren’t theoretical – they are real, consequential, and measurable.

Click Here to Read More

Congress Looks to Open Veterans’ Use of Non-VA Facilities

August 27, 2025

Congress Looks to Open Veterans’ Use of Non-VA Facilities

Recently introduced legislation aims to make it easier for rural veterans to seek care at local hospitals and clinics, as many veterans live hours from VA facilities or need health services that aren’t readily available from the VA.

Many veterans live hours from VA facilities, or they need health services that aren’t readily available from the VA. In such cases, the department is supposed to provide a referral and pay for private care. Critics say it often hesitates to do so.

Two Republican senators have introduced legislation that would make it easier for rural veterans to seek care at local hospitals and clinics. The proposals would build on VA Community Care programs that started under Democratic President Barack Obama and were expanded in Trump’s first term.

Click Here to Read Article

Long Drives, Fading Trust mark New Rural Health Reality

August 27, 2025

Long Drives, Fading Trust mark New Rural Health Reality

It’s been more than three years since the closure of Audrain Community Hospital, ending more than a century of continuous local care in Mexico, Missouri.

Once a cornerstone of rural health in the region and the first community cancer center in the state, the hospital shuttered in March 2022 after a series of management failures under Noble Health and its successor, Platinum Health. For the thousands who relied on it, the closure didn’t just change where they went for care, it changed the very rhythm of their lives.

This same story has played out in rural counties throughout Missouri and the Midwest. Twenty-one hospitals have closed in Missouri in the past 10 years, many in rural areas. Residents must drive long distances for care or make the decision that it’s just not worth traveling until the pain is too great or the symptoms too strong to ignore.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Obesity Rate Changes Differ for Rural, Urban Areas, Regions

August 27, 2025

Obesity Rate Changes Differ for Rural, Urban Areas, Regions

According to a recent study, adult obesity rates vary across geographic regions and rural/urban areas, suggesting the exposure to obesity-related diseases can differ from one location to the next. Additionally, a lack of access to care contributes to lower rural Life expectancies, says NRHA CEO Alan Morgan, along with lifestyle choices and a lack of access to healthy food.

Click Here to Read More

Webinar: Ninety Days to Dialysis: How a 24-Bed CAH Built a Sustainable Nephrology Program for Local Patients, September 4

August 27, 2025

Webinar: Ninety Days to Dialysis: How a 24-Bed CAH Built a Sustainable Nephrology Program for Local Patients, September 4

What does it take for a small critical access hospital to launch 24/7 inpatient nephrology – and begin building a community dialysis unit – in just three months?

T McKenzie Health in Watford City, ND, leadership saw the need: 36 dialysis patients in their county and the nearest home dialysis facility 180 miles away. Their response? A strategic, phased approach that started with inpatient nephrology and swing-bed dialysis – and laid the foundation for long-term outpatient expansion.

In this session, Dr. Rubin Chandran – a board-certified nephrologist with 20+ years of rural experience – shares the roadmap any CAH can follow to do the same.

You’ll Learn:

  • The 90-day implementation playbook for inpatient nephrology and acute dialysis,
  • The “4 Ps” of due diligence: physicians, prevalence, pipeline, and payer mix,
  • How to use inpatient services to de-risk outpatient expansion, and
  • What it takes to plan, build, and manage a CMS-compliant dialysis unit.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, September 4, 1:00p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

NRHA Webinar: How Air Medical Transport Saves Lives After Traumatic Brain Injury – and What Rural Hospitals Risk Losing, September 11

August 26, 2025

NRHA Webinar: How Air Medical Transport Saves Lives After Traumatic Brain Injury – and What Rural Hospitals Risk Losing, September 11

In rural America, time and distance can be deadly – especially after a traumatic brain injury. This session explores the critical role of air medical services in bridging rural trauma care gaps and improving survival outcomes for patients with brain injuries.

Join Stephanie Queen, RN, a senior clinical leader with more than 20 years in healthcare operations and critical care, Peggy Reisher, MSW, a 30-year brain injury advocate and executive director of the Brain Injury Association of Nebraska, and Tim Chiarolanza, a brain injury survivor whose life was saved by air medical transport. Together, they’ll share compelling data, personal insights, and urgent policy concerns affecting air ambulance access.

Attendees will:

  • Understand the unique causes and long-term impacts of brain injury in rural communities,
  • Learn how air ambulances deliver ICU-level care en route and improve TBI survival rates, and
  • Hear how current Medicare reimbursement gaps threaten access to these life-saving services.

Cost: Free

When: Thursday, September 11, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Click Here to Register

NRHA’s 23rd Rural Health Clinic Conference and 24th Critical Access Hospital Conference, September 23-26, Kansas City, MO

August 6, 2025

NRHA’s 23rd Rural Health Clinic Conference and 24th Critical Access Hospital Conference, September 23-26, Kansas City, MO

Calling all clinic and CAH stakeholders to Kansas City. Don’t miss your chance to share with colleagues, network with partners, and learn from experts from across the country in NRHA’s Rural Health Clinic and Critical Access Hospital Conferences.

This is your chance to take advantage of over 40 educational and networking opportunities designed for clinic and hospital professionals and board members serving rural America.

Click Here to Learn More and Register

Article: Doctors Who Use AI Perceived Less Favorably, Survey Suggests

August 6, 2025

Article: Doctors Who Use AI Perceived Less Favorably, Survey Suggests

Physicians who use artificial intelligence (AI) are perceived less favorably than those who don’t use it, a survey showed.

In a survey of 1,276 U.S. adults who were shown fake social media or billboard advertisements for family doctors, physicians portrayed to use AI were perceived as significantly less competent, trustworthy, and empathetic compared with those whose AI use was not mentioned, reported Moritz Reis, MSc, of the University of Wuerzburg in Germany, and colleagues.

Additionally, study participants said they were significantly less willing to make an appointment with a physician if any type of AI use was indicated, Reis and colleagues noted in JAMA Network Open.

Key Takeaways:

  • Physicians portrayed to use AI were perceived less favorably than those who were not.
  • They were perceived as significantly less competent, trustworthy, and empathetic, and study participants indicated significantly lower willingness to schedule an appointment with them.
  • Findings held true regardless of whether physicians were portrayed to use AI for administrative, diagnostic, or therapeutic purposes.

Click Here to Read Article.